TROUT BACK TO WINNING WAYS

This last Friday, Austin 'No Doubt' Trout (27-2-0, 14KO) and Daniel 'Awesome' Dawson (40-4-1, 26 KO) headlined the season finale of ESPN's Friday Night Fights and the fans got a lot more than the pre-fight odds (Dawson was as long as 25/1 in the States) would have suggested.

Fresh off the back of two straight defeats to arguaby the two best fighters in the division in Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (44-1-0, 31 KO) and Erislandy 'The American Dream' Lara )19-2-2, 12 KO), Trout was looking to get back to the form that saw him defeat future Hall of Famer, Miguel Cotto (39-4-0, 32 KO). Dawson for his part saw this as his opportunity to shine on the big stage in America in the way his former opponent, Daniel 'Real Deal' Geale (30-3-0, 16 KO) has done recently against Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (30-0-0,27 KO). Trout began well, winning the first 2 rounds, picking his punches well and outmaneuvering the Australian with ease. All was going to plan for the New Mexico native.That changed in the 3rd round when Dawson landed a thunderous right, sending Trout stumbling backwards to the canvas, becoming only the 3rd man to floor the American. He then repeated the feat later in the same round with another well-timed right and the American fans were on their feet wondering if they were about to witness the upset of the year.

As both men walked to their corners at the end of the 3rd round there was one question that would soon be answered - did Trout still have the heart and the hunger to fight back from being dropped for the 3rd fight in a row? The 4th round was a close affair, Teddy Atlas at ringside noted that despite his success in the previous round, Dawson was not going to avert from the game-plan and risk being caught by the southpaw counter-puncher and Trout was in no rush to leave himself open again although he did enough tow win the round. The rest of the fight was to take a similar path with Trout steadily growing in confidence and moving well. In the 8th round he managed to nullify one of the earlier knockdowns, flooring the Aussie with a vicious three punch combo. By the time the bell sounded at the end of the final round it was obvious to all in attendance who had won the fight. Dawson had proven himself to be a tough opponent but Trout was ultimately a class above The Perth man and used all of his experience of fighting the sports biggest names to get the much needed win. With 'No Doubt' Trout now back on track, all thoughts will be towards who his next opponent could be. As a former champion he has already stated his desire to regain a World Title, whether Trout has a chance of securing a fight with any of the title holders at the moment on the back of this fight remains to be seen - if he does, a likely avenue may be a rematch with slick Cuban southpaw, Erislandy Lara who himself is fresh off a defeat at the hands of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and would consider himself a favourite to repeat his previous victory. For now though, Austin Trout can enjoy his hard-fought victory and begin to plot his route back to the top of the Jr. Middleweight division.